Friday, March 13, 2009

It's almost St. Patrick's Day, and for many that means boiling up a nice authentic Irish dinner of corned beef and cabbage. The funny thing is, it's not that Irish. How it came to be such an icon of Irish-American cuisine is not completely clear, but it goes a little something like this.

When Irish immigrants, fleeing the great potato famines, arrived in the Northeast they couldn’t find, or afford, the traditional cuts of meat used for their beloved braised dinner. The original Irish recipe actually used a type of lean bacon, made with a cut of pork similar to Canadian bacon.

Corned beef came into the picture as a lower-cost substitution, to replace the more expensive and harder to find cut. But, why corned beef? New York's early immigrant populations lived in very crowded neighborhoods, and there was a close proximity between the Irish and Jewish communities.

If there is one thing that history has taught us (besides, do unto others as you would have them do unto you), it's two ethnic groups living close to each other will always borrow from each other's culinary traditions. This is a common theme in many of the world's greatest recipes - the just posted Pork al Pastor was a perfect example.

By the way, I make a couple drinking jokes in the video, but I feel entitled since many of my closest friends and relatives have very deep Irish roots, and it's all meant in good fun.

I actually think it's terribly unfair that so many people believe the stereotype that all Irish people are heavy drinkers. It's just not true - I know hundreds of Irish folks, and several of them don't have a drinking problem. Enjoy!

I really love your recipes and watching your videos (I've been subscribed on YouTube for quite a while) but I was wondering if you could possibly do a fish recipe for Lent (or those who don't eat meat). :) Thanks.

Hi Chef John. I noticed you used a Le Crueset pot for this recipe so I thought this would be the perfect time to ask "What the heck am I doing wrong?" I have recently noticed that the finish is coming off (pitting? chipping?) in a few small places on the bottom of my Le Crueset. I have had this pot for about 10 years and use it a lot. Do they just wear out eventually?

a little oil helps it brown and crisp up a bit, but you dont have to. It's peppercorns, celery seed, coriander, mustard seed, pepper flakes, and bay leaves usually, but you can find lots of various spice mix recipes online

Nicole, here's the fish I cooked last night, it is my favorite way to prepare trout:

Get some jasmine rice started with a bay leaf in it. Heat a large pan with 1 Tbsp butter and 1Tbsp peanut oil. Season your fish, then lightly dredge in flour. Fry until golden brown in the butter/oil mix. Plate the fish, and the rice, which should be done. Then add some drained capers to the pan, and fry until they start to open, a minute or so. Turn off the heat, squeeze in half a lemon and swirl the pan to get everything integrated. Pour the pan sauce and capers over the fish and rice.

re: Le CreusetOriginal owners pans come with a lifetime guarantee - check with the company website for suggestions about your cookware I don't think you can damage them with utensils - not unless that's what you're trying to do, anyway. I have some that are 70+ years old - and the interior finish is dull on some, but no pitting or chipping. I am not the original owner, these were from my mother-in-law, so the warranty doesn't apply to mine.

Corned beef is on the menu for tomorrow, for which I have a 5 lb. slab of brisket flat that's been brining for the past week. It's too big to fit into any of my pots, so I'm cutting off a chunk and reserving it for... pastrami!

What did I do wrong? I made corned beef and cabbage for st. Patty's day, 1st time. The corned beef was stringy and tough, totally inedible. I was so disappointed. The flavor was good just the meat was terrible. Could it have the the cut of meat? I used flat cut because I read that it was better. It was 3lb and I cooked it for 4 hours, I started checking it at 3 hours it just never got tender.

Sounds like you cut it with the grain and not across the grain. 4 hours is plenty of time and the beef would been cooked. probably not the beef, since even "bad" beef would be cooked in 4 hr. Did you boil or gently simmer? Watch the end of the video where I cut it and see if that was the problem.

Chef John - help this rookie, please! Mine is only 2.75 pounds instead of 4-5. How do you adjust the 3 hour cooking time for that (or do you? I'm assuming so...). I'm really afraid of this not turning out well - my only other try several years ago was disgusting!

Hi chef John! I did some research last night about how to remove the sodium out of corned beef. Most of reviews stated boil the meat twice or third time or keep the meat in the warm water to soak the sodium out. Could you tell me more specific how to do it? Thank you!

Chef John- You are awesome, and that's not a work I use frequently. You are my go-to guy when I either don't know what to make on a particular evening, or don't know how to make what I want!Thank You for all you do, I especially appreciate your little comments, and sense of humor.